INVITING GOD INTO YOUR EMOTIONS
God Chat Blog #12-Inviting God into our Emotions
Have you ever felt an emotion that was so consuming or intense that it actually pushed you away from God for a time? It may have been anger or pain, grief or shame, sadness or anxiety, fear or even extreme joy. We tend to hear that we should “give our emotions to God” when we’re feeling something deeply. But is that what God wants us to do? Let’s take a closer look.
Just recently, I felt overwhelmed with grief. My older brother had passed away recently. It was unexpected, and afterwards I felt such acute grief that I felt cut off from the world and from myself. I simply lost hope in God’s ability to comfort me. I felt stuck in hopeless despair and very alone. We can feel this way with any issue in our lives. It can happen with big and with small things, regardless of their intensity. I told my husband how I was feeling and he graciously offered to walk me through “Immanuel prayer”, a type of prayer that invites God into an issue to see where He is in that moment and how He wants to be with you in the present moment. Since He is omnipresent, I was then able to attune to His presence and experience that God was truly happy to be with me, right in the middle of my hopelessness. It took the cutting edge away just knowing that God wasn’t going anywhere, and I wasn’t alone. It was me that had wanted to push Him away.
This issue of inviting God into an emotion, to be with us in it, is different than “giving Him our emotions.” He’s already with us, so really we don’t have to invite Him into the emotion. But sometimes it helps to talk to Him in a way that works for us. It may be just quieting, and noticing His presence. It may be just asking Him if He understands how hard this is for us. It may be saying, “Take this, I cannot handle this anymore”. As we give all of our burdens to Him, He promises to sustain us. (Psalm 55:22).
Psalm 55: 22 Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”
What is interesting is that the word “sustain” in this passage means to abide with, to nourish, support and maintain. We no longer feel burdened if we know someone or God truly wants to be with us, right in the middle of our emotion. We only feel burdened when we have an emotion that we don’t feel we can share with anyone or with God. Whether that is true or not, if we believe it is, we end up feeling alone in it. All we really need to know in order to lift that burden, is that someone or God is happy to be with us and to share that emotion.
God’s promises: One thing I learned during the loss of my brother is that there isn’t one emotion that God does not want to feel with us, and there isn’t one problem that He doesn’t also have a provision for. He actually enjoys experiencing it with us!
“You hear O Lord, the desire of the afflicted, you strengthen his heart and you listen attentively”. (Psalm 10:17)
Picture when your child or niece or sibling took their first steps. Even if they fell and cried, you were excited just to cheer them on, and then hold them for a bit before putting them on their feet again for another try. The tears were a part of the struggle and you were just glad to be with them in it. That is how God is with us. He wants to experience you in all your emotions. He wants to walk alongside you, and let you find the victory in the struggle, knowing that He is there for you. He is simply elated to go through these steps with you, even though you may have to struggle and fall, as you learn to walk with Him. Soon you will be dancing and leaping and doing summersaults with Him, but right now we are learning the basics.
Exercise: In this next exercise we will combine a few of the God Chat basics that we’ve learned in previous blogs to help you continue your practice, this time inviting God into an emotion of your own. If you are new to God Chat, this will serve as a brief review of the core concepts.
1) Quiet yourself by allowing your mind to be still and breathe deeply. With every breath, allow God’s presence to expand within you. Notice what that feels like. Close your eyes and do this for at least 2-3 minutes if not more. Take your time. Wait until your mind is able to bring itself back to your breathing or God’s presence whenever it wanders. Wait until you notice where in your body you feel a sense of deeper relaxation. If you need to you can put on some instrumental music. (Some people prefer to move or pace while quieting).
2) Whisper something you are grateful for to God (this turns on your relational connectors in your brain). Go into some details about what it is. if you can’t think of anything, go back to the quieting or ask God to bring something to mind. If it feels peaceful, elaborate on this until you feel a truly grateful feeling, and you can notice where you feel this in your body (You may feel more relaxed, your shoulders are less tight, or your stomach feels warm.) Bear with this awhile as it takes practice, but body awareness is one of the best indicators that your relational circuits are “firing” in your brain, which makes it easier to connect with God or others.
3) Ask God to show you a situation and an emotion that you felt this past week or two, where you experienced being burdened, overwhelmed, or alone. When you get the situation and the emotion, write it below. (It may be more than one emotion, write down however many come to mind). If you cannot get a situation or if you feel immediately disconnected from God after getting it, simply say out loud, “Whenever I’m afraid, I trust in you Oh, God” several times out loud.
If you cannot narrow the emotion(s) down, try to see which of the following emotions it resembled the most: mad, sad, fear, shame, disgust, hopeless despair, joy.
Situation:
Emotions:
Calming statement: End this section by saying out loud, “Whenever I am ____________(the emotion), I trust in you, O God”. Quiet yourself and take another breath. Return to your gratitude for a moment. Then proceed.
4) Invite God into your emotion: Ask Him to show you where He was in this emotion or His perspective on the situation. You can ask Him, “How did you see this God?” or “God where were you in this situation?” or “What do you have for me regarding this emotion?” Be still and He will show you. Pray that you will be able to discern His guidance. Write down what you get, and don’t filter or wonder if it is really God you are hearing. You can check this against the filter checks later. (See filter checks in resources). Simply write down the first things that come to mind, remembering that you are synchronizing your mind with His.
God’s perspective:
Emotion: (write down your emotion after hearing God’s perspective).
5) If your emotion is not greater peace, keep going back to the calming statement on the top of page 3, and repeating it, proceeding again with step 4 until you come to a place of peace. God is listening and wants to hear you. You can a also ask, what do I need in order to have more peace?
“You hear O Lord, the desire of the afflicted, you strengthen his heart and you listen attentively”. (Psalm 10:17).
6) Always end with gratitude for what you’ve experienced and let God know your “Take-Aways” from this exercise, and what you want Him to help you with this week.
Enjoy the next few weeks practicing these principles of inviting God into your emotions and situations to gain His perspective.
Happy God Chatting! Remember God loves to laugh, cry and emote with you!
Denice Mackenzie
May 5, 2019
